Who's Better: Actors as Singers or Singers as Actors? We Break It Down

Begin Again hits theaters this week, and we get to see Adam Levine transform himself into a "d---head" rock star (costar Keira Knightley's words, not ours) in his big-screen debut. Your opinion of his acting skills might hinge on how much of a stretch you think that role might be for the Maroon 5 frontman, who also tested his acting chops on American Horror Story in 2012.

Once fans will likely love this movie from director John Carney. Keira Knightley plays a struggling singer who's just been dumped by her rock-star boyfriend (played by Adam Levine in his feature-film debut) and joins a failing record executive (Mark Ruffalo) to record a new album. In theaters July 4.

Levine joins the legions of rock stars, rappers, and divas who've stepped into the movie biz, so we thought we'd do a bit of an analysis of this frequent phenomenon. Who is more successful at crossing over: musicians as movie stars or movie stars as musicians? We gathered data on five recently successful artists (so, sorry, no Marky Mark or Will Smith here) and five current movie stars (TV is a whole 'nother can of Glee-ful worms). Check out the (admittedly apples to oranges) comparison:

Notable Albums: Be Here Soon, Jeff Bridges, all the live performances in Crazy Heart

Peak Billboard 200 Rank (Album): #25 (Jeff Bridges)

Peak Billboard Hot 100 Rank (Single): N/A

Awards: N/A

Metacritic score: 65

Ryan Gosling, Movie Star

Notable Albums: Dead Man's Bones' Dead Man's Bones

Peak Billboard 200 Rank (Album): N/A

Peak Billboard Hot 100 Rank (Single): N/A

Awards: N/A

Metacritic score: 76

The Verdict:

When you look at their projects, it looks like the musicians win! It's much easier for Justin Timberlake or Mariah Carey to work themselves into an award-winning ensemble cast, simultaneously learning from them and reaping their box-office rewards. Recording an album, on the other hand, puts your inexperience and flaws out there. But based solely on the Metacritic scores, reviewers seem a bit more inclined to be friendly toward a side project by Scarlett Johansson or Ryan Gosling than they are toward 50 Cent's many experiments in independent film.